Flavius Severus
Strategos Flavius Severus was one of the few high-ranking humans in the Northern Horde. Although he was a skilled soldier thanks to his paladin training, his true calling was building siege engines and devising strategies. He had a reputation of never failing to take over a city with his machinery, and he was thus often referred to as the Besieger. Flavius lost his life in the Battle of Alent when a magic cannon he'd designed malfunctioned after it had penetrated Alent's defenses. Biography Early Years Flavius was born to a poor family in Aison. He showed great wisdom even as a child, and his parents managed to convince the authorities to enroll him to the military academy of Graves Hall. Flavius ended up in the same class as Marcus Sarillius and trained to become a paladin although he was always more interested in devising strategies than actually learning swordfighting skills. The two went their separate ways after graduation. Flavius had always been ambitious, and this eventually led him to betray his homeland by joining the ranks of Yamato during the invasion of Aison. He was relocated to Yamato only a week prior to the Grand Alliance's attack on Aison and thus failed to help in the war. He ended up with Nobuo Iwasaki and joined the Northern Horde with him after the Cataclysm. He showed great skill as an architect and strategist and slowly rose to the rank of Strategos, a general of one of the horde's armies. Godslayer Era Siege of Vanna When the Northern Horde set its eyes on the Sultanate of Karaganda in the summer of 1017 AE, Flavius was ordered to find out how to penetrate the defenses of Vanna, a city which had often been called a besieger's nightmare. He saw it as a challenge to prove his intellect and began working on an ultimate weapon which he could unleash upon the city. He eventually finished his deadliest siege engine yet, the Helepolis, and became eager to test it against Vanna now that the siege had begun. He was less than pleased to see Marcus Sarillius again, particularly as he witnessed the power of Marcus's sword, Dusk, which decimated many demons and even the colossal demon, Dominator. Flavius unleashed the Helepolis on Vanna's western side while many warriors from the horde attacked the city from the east. Helepolis's first true test had finally begun. More info later. Death Flavius was ordered to use his newest invention, a magic cannon which had been built to penetrate Alent's magical defenses so the Northern Horde could begin its assault in earnest while Alent and the Coalition were busy fighting against one another. The cannon succeeded in blowing a hole through the gates of Alent but malfunctioned and blew up from the magical backlash not long after, killing the Besieger in the resulting explosion. Legacy Although the Northern Horde had suffered a setback by losing one of its chief strategists and engineers, Flavius's legacy would live on as the Besieger who had successfully breaken through the defenses of such seemingly impenetrable cities as Alent and Vanna, a feat few other generals could match. Aliases and Nicknames ; Besieger : Given to Flavius because of his perfect record of conquering cities with the help of his devastating siege engines. Appearance Flavius had short, dirty blond hair and a well-trimmed beard. His face was rather narrow, which made him look somewhat sinister. He was a rather tall man but not as muscular as many warriors. He wore the red armor of the Northern Horde and a cloak with a darker shade of red. Personality and Traits Flavius was an intelligent and quite ambitious man. He saw people as mere tools that he could use to test his siege engines. Although he cared for the men under his command, it was only from a strategic point of view: he wished to win battles with as few casualties as possible to prove his superior intellect to other commanders. His eagerness to test his weapons ended up being a fatal error which cost him his life, however, when he realized too late that his latest invention, a magic cannon, had a severe magical backlash which resulted in an explosion. Powers and Abilities Flavius was a better than average warrior and preferred to use war hammers in battle because they often turned out to be more effective against armored foes than swords or axes. His endurance was not as good as a knight's, though, so he usually tried to use his surroundings to his advantage to finish off his opponents quickly. However, his real strength lay in his intellect in engineering, strategy and tactics which had granted him a high position in the Northern Horde. He was skilled in carpentry and knew how to use ironworks. He was also a good painter, and his sketches of siege towers and other siege engines were often quite detailed and beautiful to look at. Relationships Distreyd Thanadar XIII Distreyd grudgingly acknowledged Flavius's skills as an architect and strategist, but he was not happy about the man's past as a former paladin from Graves Hall. Distreyd and Flavius had learned to live with each other, because they understood that they had to cooperate if they wished to advance in their respective careers. Flavius thought that Distreyd was insignificant in the greater scheme of things, but he was willing to use Distreyd's mages and Chaos Dwarves to test his new weapons so that he could improve his already impressive war machines. Leraje Thanadar Leraje was Flavius's superior. Although the Dreadlord respected Flavius's intellect and success in battles, Flavius saw Leraje as nothing more than a beast whom he was forced to tolerate for the time being. Flavius was willing to use every opportunity that Leraje gave him to test new siege engines, and this was likely the only reason why Flavius still bothered hanging around Leraje. After power shifted from Leraje to Ronove due to the former's defeat, Flavius accepted the change in leadership and served Ronove with as much vigor as he had served Leraje before him. Nobuo Iwasaki Flavius was a prodigy, but Nobuo often thought that the man's plans were too complicated for straight warfare. Nobuo had come to respect Flavius for the creation of various useful weapons of war. The two didn't talk much, but they had learned to co-operate as it was the only way to guarantee survival among bloodthirsty demons. Flavius saw Nobuo as an ordinary commander with no vision, and he liked ordering the lower-ranked Nobuo around whenever an opportunity presented itself. See also *Graves Hall *Helepolis *Northern Horde Category:Aison Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Northern Horde Category:Third Age